The fact that this film was twenty-five minutes long but yet also attempts to cover Joan Sims from her first turn in films in the early 1950's through to her fame from the Carry On films as well as her personal life did suggest to me that this would be a pretty superficial affair. And in a way it was because almost the entire film is made up of clips and contributions from people credited as "actress and friend" and the like.
What this means is that I did feel like I was hearing about someone's life second-hand and that it wasn't really much of a "documentary" as a result. It does provide things of interest as it does give a very superficial account of her life, with key events being mentioned but not really explored. Here and there we get some quiet personal and touching recollections from some of the contributors but mostly they are pretty weak and bring little to the film that a series of title cards couldn't have done just as well.
I never really got a sense of the person that Joan Sims was, nor the career that saw her be an instantly recognisable actress for four decades. A disappointing film then that doesn't do much of anything other than provide a very basic overview of Sims' life.
What this means is that I did feel like I was hearing about someone's life second-hand and that it wasn't really much of a "documentary" as a result. It does provide things of interest as it does give a very superficial account of her life, with key events being mentioned but not really explored. Here and there we get some quiet personal and touching recollections from some of the contributors but mostly they are pretty weak and bring little to the film that a series of title cards couldn't have done just as well.
I never really got a sense of the person that Joan Sims was, nor the career that saw her be an instantly recognisable actress for four decades. A disappointing film then that doesn't do much of anything other than provide a very basic overview of Sims' life.